Huckabee Ends Fox News Show to Mull Presidential Run

Huckabee Ends Fox News Show to Mull Presidential Run

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 7, 2014.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee can’t say he won’t run for president in 2016 so he’s bidding farewell to his weekly Fox News show in order to properly consider a potential candidacy. The man who was briefly on top during the 2008 Republican primaries announced the decision on Facebook and his own show Saturday night. He had fun doing the show, he said, but he feels destined for bigger things.

“It has been the ride of a lifetime and I´ve never had so much fun in my life,” Huckabee said. But “God hasn't put me on earth just to have a good time or to make a good living but rather God’s put me on earth to try to make a good life.”

Huckabee, who has been hosting a show on Fox News for 6½ years, says he made the decision because “there´s been a great deal of speculation about whether I´ll be running for president” and he isn’t “willing to absolutely rule that out.” That decision is going to come “late in the spring of 2015 but the continued chatter has put Fox News into a position that just is not fair to them,” he added. Or maybe he made the decision before it was made for him. Fox News has a history of ending contracts with politicians who are considering launching presidential campaigns, including Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, notes Reuters.

Even without a show though, Huckabee hinted it wouldn’t be long before he was back on Fox News: “I’m not going to disappear and I´ll probably make guest appearances on Fox—I hope so!” In a recent CNN/ORC poll on potential Republican presidential contenders, Huckabee was tied for fourth place with 6 percent support. He'll be able to begin gaging enthusiasm for a potential bid among his supporters later this month when he launches a national tour to promote his latest book, God, Guns, Grits and Gravy. "As we say on television, stay tuned, there is more to come," Huckabee said.

Daniel Politi has been contributing to Slate since 2004 and wrote the Today’s Papers column from 2006 to 2009. Follow him on Twitter.